Logging exercise skewing weight loss

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Replies

  • shaunap3
    shaunap3 Posts: 206 Member
    I think the net calories throw a LOT of people off. You shouldn't eat back the calories that you've burning off, I think it just kind of gives you a little extra cushion if you're feeling a little hungrier. I try and stick to whatever my daily calorie goal was with or without working out. That's the only what I actually lose!
  • DeMarraDontStop
    DeMarraDontStop Posts: 342 Member
    I log exercise nut just don't eat all of them back or just a few. I tried a week of exercising and eating the calories back and gained weight so that method does not work for me at this time.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    It's already been said, but with 25 pounds to lose, your goal should be 1, or even .5 lb/wk. Adjust your settings accordingly so your calorie allotment is more accurate. If you are using MFP's numbers, you are supposed to eat exercise calories back. This is not some crazy notion when you think about it. Other ways of calculating have you eat calories for exercising as well (using TDEE), it's just that they're calculated from the beginning and give you the same number of calories to eat daily whereas MFP is designed to add them in as you exercise - you can imagine it as though MFP doesn't believe you'll exercise until you actually do while using your TDEE expects you to exercise as much as you say you will. However, MFP's exercise calories are notoriously inaccurate for a lot of people. This is not unusual - exercise machines overestimate as well. To combat this, try eating just 50-75% of them back.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    I log exercise nut just don't eat all of them back or just a few. I tried a week of exercising and eating the calories back and gained weight so that method does not work for me at this time.

    A week is not enough time to gauge a change in diet, nor was it fat weight weight you gained unless you ate thousands of calories over your maintenance number. An sudden increase in calories over your average results in temporary "gain" - it's pretty much water weight. To really see the results of a change in diet you should give it at least a month.
  • skellyness
    skellyness Posts: 165 Member
    I eat back a certain amount and then stop regardless to how much exercise
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    Opposite for me. Was stck and not losing. Started eating my exercise calls and started losing

    Ditto. Someone did a sample bit of research on here recently and found that people eating back exercise cals lost fat through their weight loss, whereas people who didn't eat them back loss more lean mass with their weight loss. I know which camp I'd rather be in.

    yes I did ;) .. So OP, do you want to lose fat or fat and muscle? But if MFP is estimating them, only eat 50% of them . Or the better method is including it in your TDEE. So if you exercise 5 days a week, set your account to moderately active. If you exercise 3-4 days a week, set it at lightly active. Fuel your body or your body will fuel it self (through converting the amino acids in your muscles to create energy).


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/729141-exercise-calories-to-eat-or-not-to-eat-results?hl=exercise+calories+psulemon&page=1#posts-10742097
  • sgarrard01
    sgarrard01 Posts: 213 Member
    I can only speak from personal experiance, but i set my diary to sedentry and then add back everything i do with the exeption of cleaning and gardening, where i only add in 50% of the time expended... everything else i add in and use a HRM for everything except swimming where i use a poolmate tracker...

    I eat ALL of my exorsize calories, which on some major swimming days can result in 3000+ (based upon a net of 1700), i have never plateued for more than 2 weeks (when i just addedd 100kcal to my net) and consistantly lost around 2lbs a week (sometimes a little less) and i'm nearly at goal weight after being on here since aprils (i'm actually less than 2lbs away but im lowering it in-line with my BF%)

    Hope that helps bring some confiednce in people wondering whether to eat back those exersize calories!

    Simon

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